It is history in the making at the United Nations at the moment as more than 150 heads of state, NGOs from around the globe, Nobel Prize winners and media crew are going to descend on the UN headquarters in New York on Friday for the landmark Sustainable Development Summit that coincides with the 70th anniversary of the UN General Assembly. It is considered to be the biggest launch in history and is the largest gathering ever at the UN.

A group of world leaders who have been giving the UN General Assembly a miss over the years will be in attendance this time. Among them are Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cuban President Raul Castro. According to the UN’s own estimates, achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets meant to transform the world will require over 250 billion dollars annually for the next 15 years.

An inter-agency and expert group is now working towards determining the global indicators of sustainable development which will be the benchmark against which the progress made by member states will be evaluated. These indicators are likely to be finalised by March next year. But for now, it’s history in the making at the UN.